


Sickfic

by Kairach



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 15:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6057115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kairach/pseuds/Kairach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karen gets sick, and Matt visits her. Despite the fact that Karen's slightly high from the cough syrup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Balloon

Karen felt like shit.

She had made the hoarse phone call to Foggy saying that she would be off work two days ago now, and she had barely moved from her sofa since then. Of course, Foggy paid a visit the minute she mentioned it, but she shooed him away not long after. She didn't want him to get her cold.

And anyway, she looked pretty gross right now. Her skin was deathly pale, her lips were dry and chapped, and dark bags had appeared under her eyes from the sleepless nights. It was really hard to sleep when you couldn't actually breathe, and she was feeling pretty delirious because of it. Her ears were blocked, her nose was blocked, her throat felt like sandpaper, and she felt like she was going to vomit every time she stood up. It was a miracle that she even had a shower this morning.

Also, she was high as balls on cough syrup.

Whilst she was watching cartoons with numerous blankets wrapped around her, when she heard a knock at the door.  
Karen instantly froze. A million different scenes played out in her head. Did Fisk escape? Is she going to get beaten up? Killed? Kidnapped? Will she become just another un-washable bloodstain on a carpet, another-

"Karen? It's me, Matt. "

She relaxed, but her heart now raced for a different reason. She looked back towards the door.

"Matt." Was the only thing she could croak out.

"I have a key, so I'm just going to uh-" She could hear him fumble with the lock, but he got there eventually.  
"I would help you in, but I can't really stand up right now." 

"No, no it's fine, stay there."

He was wearing his usual grey suit, but he also had with him a pink flask of something, and a balloon tied in a loose knot around his wrist.

"Step."

"Thanks."

Christ, she didn't want him to see her like this. Even though he was blind, Karen somehow felt /sure/ that he knew how bad a state she was in. But the way his hand gently trailed across the unfamiliar walls and the fact that he actually /came/ all the way here to check up on her, she wouldn't have asked him to leave for the world.

"You might get my cold, Matt." She whispered. "And it's really gross."

"Nah. I have a pretty good immune system." He replied off-handedly. He stood there for a moment or two before Karen realized that he was waiting for her permission to sit down. What a dork.

"Well, if you're so sure about that, you can come and sit next to me." She tucked her legs underneath her, casually brushing away any tissues that were on the seat (she hoped he wouldn't notice).

"So I take it you're not feeling any better?" Matt asked as he sat down, the cushions sinking with his weight. "It's pretty empty in the office without you."

"Yep, I still feel like shit!" She replied cheerfully. "But hey, what can you do. Lie here and watch cartoons, obviously. What's that you got?" She pointed to the balloon just above Matt's head- pointing was still a force of habit, it seemed.

"Oh uh, yeah. Apparently it's-it's got a bird dressed as a doctor on it, and it says 'Get Well Soon Buddy!' Kind of an impulse buy, I thought you know because of last time... It's dumb I don't know why I did it." He trailed off. Karen was beaming.

"Karen, are you alright? I know I've said that already but you um, seem chirpier."

"What, that? Oh no, it's fine, I just took too much cough syrup. I had a shower today, which I'm pretty proud of. "

Matt nodded, his eyebrows furrowing. "Okay. Do you want me to stay here or would you rather be left alone?"

"No no no, I'd love you to stay! You're my buddy!" She took his arm. Her throat hurt from talking so much. "Here, put your hand out."

He obliged.

"No, the other one. The one with the balloon on it. Dingus."

He obliged again, smiling and blushing now. She noticed his knuckles weren't as grazed as they were before, and she tilted his hand so that it was palm upwards. Even that small touch sent a tiny thrill up her spine, and she idly wondered whether he felt it too. What would he do if she just put her hand in his?

She undid the knot around Matt's wrist, and tied it around the leg of the coffee table.

"There, perfect. I'm sorry I can't talk much, it's just my throat hurts." She coughed again, wincing at the pain. "What's in the flask?"

"Chicken soup." Matt said, a shade of pride in his tone. "I made it myself!"

She smiled. "I'll look forward to it."

The cartoon was still playing in the background. Maybe this would have been a good time to kiss him, if she didn't have a cold. Without thinking, she leaned into Matt so that she could continue watching the TV.

She could hear his heart beat. Did she cross a line? She didn't know. She felt Matt tense as she did so, but now a new episode was playing, and she was more interested in humming the theme tune to that. His jacket felt kind of nice against her cheek. She guessed he shopped according to touch, not sight. Did he shop by himself? 

Were those abs?

Is Matt Murdock fucking ripped?

"Karen, I-"

"Shhhhh... I missed you too buddy." She yawned. Karen thought she could feel his arm move slightly-maybe to stroke her hair- but he thought better of it and went back to his original position.

There was a few minutes pause.

"I can't sleep as well as I did before."Karen said softly, the fabric of his jacket touching her lips in the lightest of kisses.

"Oh yeah?"

"I have to take sleeping pills, but some nights I don't take them, because I don't want to be dependent on them. When you have a cold you can't breathe, and that's not a good mix when you're waking up from a nightmare."

"...Do you nightmares often?" His voice was becoming as quiet as hers.

"Yeah, yeah I do."

"What of?"

She yawned again. "I can't tell you. There's some guy in black, and there's a lot of blood. Sometimes it's where the Devil saved me, but sometimes it's where-" She stopped herself just in time. "It's pretty scary. Sometimes I wake up before I die in the dream, sometimes I don't."

Another silence.

"...You know Karen, I'm always there if you need me. If you wake up from a nightmare again, text me."

"You sure you want that?"

"I'm positive."

She smiled sleepily. "You know, you're a good guy, Matt. I know you don't think you are, but you are."

Matt said nothing.

"Watching TV must be really boring for you."

The faintest of sighs escaped his lips. "Not this time."

His rhythmic breathing and the drowsiness from the syrup made her slowly sink into unconsciousness.


	2. Karma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt lied.

Matt's immune system had completely betrayed him. 

Of course, the whole don't-worry-Karen-I've-got-a-strong-immune-system thing had been a white lie. A tiny one. But Karen was not lying when she said that this cold made you feel like utter shit.

Karen had come in to help tidy around the apartment, because apparently it was a dump. Matt was crashed out on the sofa, because it was 'too stuffy' under the duvets in his bedroom. But in all honesty, he only wanted to be in the same room as Karen. He was actually freezing.

Her illness wore off after a few more days. Now she was back to her normal, non-overdosed self. Matt kind of missed how open she had been on that day. But still, she was better now. She still hadn't brought up the fact that she fell asleep on him. Or the fact that that was the closest they had ever been. Maybe she was embarrassed about it. Although he wouldn't admit it, Matt actually enjoyed it. He would have stayed there forever, but got nervous about if Karen woke up and found that he was still there. So, instead of sinking lower into the sofa and winding his arms around her like he so dearly wanted to do, he carefully left the apartment without waking her up. This was pretty difficult, given what a light sleeper Karen was. 

Matt was distracted from his thoughts when he felt Karen sitting down beside her, and he became painfully aware that he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"I brought you tomato soup" Karen put it on the coffee table. "And I think I did a really good job cleaning up your apartment! Don't worry, everything's back to where it usually is."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do any of this."

"Aw, it's no trouble. And sure I do, I'm your friend!"

They both knew that it was actually Foggy who did this. But because of a family emergency, Foggy was currently on the other side of the country.

Matt sneezed. His throat felt like it was on fire. Karen handed him some tissues.

"Here, you should lie down. The room spins less that way. Wait, do rooms still spin for you?"

Matt smiled as Karen got up from the sofa to crouch beside him. "Yeah, I feel pretty dizzy. But it's more like I'm the one that's spinning." He shivered. Karen put a light hand on his forehead. "Christ Matt, your temperature's haywire. I'll get you a blanket."

It was nice having Karen stay for a while. He couldn't think of anyone in the world he would rather spend his weekend off with. And he could tell that she pitied him, a blind, sick guy who was having trouble even standing up. He took that pity gladly. Of course, Karen had stayed here before (it had been numerous times, where both of them felt lonely without one another), but today it felt different. More intimate.

She came back, and draped the blanket over Matt, who was having another coughing fit.

"I got you a pillow as well. Still not feeling any better?"

"It's getting better gradually," He optimistically replied with eyes streaming slightly. "I don't feel like throwing up any more at least."

"Aw, you're really going through the works, huh. I'll make you some tea."

"Thanks, Karen." He said, wiping his eyes with the tissue. "You know, Foggy isn't so caring when I'm sick. He's been through this so many times before."

"You get sick often?"

"Not as much now, but more than most at university. I don't know, I was kind of sickly when I was younger. But yeah, Foggy just buys me food, makes sure I won't die without him and leaves." This was also a lie. But still nothing to go to repentance for. 

"Well, what can I say, I'm the best thing that's happened to you."

Matt just smiled.

"Did you take your cough syrup?"

"Not yet."

"I left it on the table. Eat your soup."

"Yes ma'am."

He hoped he would get sick more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, it's a shorter chapter than before! I'll make it up to you in the next chapter, I swear. Maybe I'll add some more stuff onto this one later.


	3. Ice cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt is a huge teenage girl.

Two months later, and Karen was driving Matt absolutely insane.

He was just constantly hyper-aware of her presence. Despite working a little away from her, he could feel every time she glanced towards him, he could hear her breath, hear her heartbeat, smell what kind of shampoo she used (apple), know every time she bit her lip or stood up to make coffee. He could even feel the tiny blankets of temperature that was a halo of light around her form in his warped vision. When it rained outside and she walked with him, he could hear every raindrop that fell on her, he could hear what she looked like.

Matt knew that Foggy knew too. It was like his best friend was attuned to his thoughts. They had talked about it after Foggy had told him his suspicions, and Matt admitted his feelings in a hot tumble of words suddenly before work, his hands raking through his hair and knotting together at the back of his neck. And Foggy just smiled. He said that these things just take their course, and that he shouldn't worry. Luckily, Karen hadn't noticed ('but you're blushing hardcore every time she speaks to you dude, you gotta tone that shit down'). But how could things take their course? He had taken to drumming his fingers on the desk in a vain attempt to drown out the sound of her breathing. If things didn't take their course quickly, Matt would have to take it out on something else.

Coincidentally, Daredevil's appearances were /way/ more frequent than they were before.

But then one day, Karen didn't show up. The silence seemed even more unbearable than the noice. Upon asking Foggy, Matt learned that Karen had tonsillitis, and wouldn't be at work for a few days.

He sent her a text after his shift: -hey bud, you holding up okay?-  
-Yeah. I can't talk like, at all though. Come over, bring ice cream Xx- She replied about a minute after.  
-Done.- He smiled. Then, in a separate text, -Xxx-.

***

Matt arrived at Karen's house about half an hour later. The door was opened in silence.

"I brought like, six different flavours of Ben and Jerry's." Matt gestured to the shopping bag. "I didn't really know which one was your favourite one, so I panicked. I didn't really know Ben and Jerry's was so expensive? Like, I don't normally get it for myself, because I get brainfreeze really easily." Supersense had it's cons.

Silence.

"...I'm starting to see the problems of you not being able to talk and me not being able to see."

Karen grinned. She took the shopping bag from Matt, and led him to the sofa. Another cartoon was on the TV. A different one, going by the voice actors.

A bowl full of ice cream was pushed into Matt's hand a minute later. "Oh, thanks."

-How are we going to do this?- A metallic voice rang out from Karen's phone. Matt laughed.

"You're using Google Translate?"

-Don't judge me, it was the only thing I could come up with-

"Well, I think that the plan for this evening is to watch TV." He put a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. "I'll just- I don't know, use my imagination. Then I'm going to fall asleep probably in the middle of it, because it's been a long day."

-My phone is on 5%-

"Well then, that's settled. Have fun sitting in silence."

-It's not a weird silence. I like being with you, silence or not.-

That caught him of guard. His heart skittered, for just a second. "I feel the same."

There was a pause.

"Have you run out of charge already?"

-No, can I lean on you again? It's just you're very comfortable.-

"Sure."

***

They had been like this for a while now. Matt no longer cared about when Karen woke up. They were breathing in unison, and that was the only thing that disturbed the evening air around them. Karen originally just leaned on his shoulder, but now her head was on his chest, and one arm rested across his stomach. Matt's arm was now loosely around the curve of her waist, which she seemed okay with when she was awake.

Words bubbled up towards his throat. If he said nothing now, he would forever hold his peace. It had tormented him for weeks now, just getting it out in the open would be enough.

"...You're asleep, so I'm just going to say it here." He whispered. "I-I think I might love you. This feeling is weird and new because, well I've never really felt this way about anyone else before. Christ, this is making me cringe. But when I said that I would always protect you, I meant it. I'm sorry. I love you. But I'm such a coward when it comes to this. You're my friend, and I love you. I'm going to fuck it up one day by actually telling you. But this is enough. This... is enough."

...

The seconds passed like hours. Matt realized that her heart was racing.

Karen was not asleep.

Karen's heart was racing and Karen was not asleep, those were the only two things that were going through Matt's head now. His thoughts spiralled downwards, he could feel his face burning. How could he have been so stupid? "Karen, I-"

"Shhh." He felt her lips on his in the lightest of kisses. "Did you think I didn't feel the same?"

"I- what?"

The seconds passed like hours.

-I love you too, idiot- came the metallic, disjointed voice of Google Translate that made them both burst out laughing.

And for a few moments, that was all that Matt could hear. No city noises, no crime, just laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey this is my first public fanfic, so if there's anything in my style of writing that needs work, please let me know!


End file.
